Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were hoping to start of the 2023 season on a strong note by getting a consistent streak of wins and podium results. Unfortunately for them, it hasn’t worked out positively and according to former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, it is their fault.
Ferrari is currently fourth in the standings, and most people blame it on the management and the development team, whom they accuse of building a slow car. Public sympathy may lie with Leclerc and Sainz, but Ralf, whose brother Michael Schumacher won five championships with the Scuderia, blames the current Ferrari duo.
We take a look at what caused Charles Leclerc’s Q3 session ending crash in Miami 💥 pic.twitter.com/Ns52F5Ovxs
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) May 6, 2023
According to Schumacher, the progress made in the Maranello-based outfit since Fred Vasseur joined in 2023 has been commendable. He has noticed changes in the team that are pointing towards a positive future, but mistakes made by Sainz and Leclerc are affecting their current chances. In his column for Sky Germany, Schumacher wrote:
“I see the biggest problem with the drivers. For me, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are not consistent enough.”
Charles Leclerc struggled in Miami because of defying Ferrari engineers
After a promising weekend for Charles Leclerc in Azerbaijan, where he earned his first pole position and podium finish of the year, the Monegasque-driver struggled once again in Miami. This time, even his qualifying pace wasn’t optimal, and a crash saw him finish his session in P7.
Leclerc couldn’t improve on his position in the race, and finished 7th which when added to Sainz’s P5, was yet another disappointing points haul for Ferrari. However, while the drivers and fans keep complaining about a car with slow race pace, Schumacher points out that it was Leclerc’s mistake that spoiled his weekend.
We’ve got so much work to do in terms of race pace. We’ll keep pushing as always.
Next stop is in Imola ❤️ pic.twitter.com/u4Q4HP1dpa— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) May 7, 2023
The former Williams driver revealed that Leclerc didn’t listen to his engineers when they pleaded with him to not change the setup of the car. He slammed the 25-year-old’s maturity, which he feels leads to mistakes and costs points for the Italian team. He said:
“With his mistakes, he shows that he either doesn’t have the maturity yet or maybe at the end of the day he’s not consistently good to drive a world championship car for Ferrari.”
Leclerc is too good for Carlos Sainz, says Schumacher
Sainz, who struggled immensely in Baku, recovered his form to some extent in Miami. He put his car in P3, but his race pace was so slow that he ended up losing two places.
Schumacher called out the Spaniard for being slower than Leclerc overall, and also criticized him for speeding in the pit-lane which landed him a five-second time penalty.
🇺🇸 It was a tough race for us. My first stint was good, but we struggled with the Hards. In general, we are lacking race pace consistency overall this season, but we’ll keep working on a solution as a team.
–#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/lmet8uCcao
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) May 7, 2023
Carlos Sainz is currently P5 in the drivers’ championship standings with 44 points to his name. Leclerc, meanwhile is in P7 with 34 points. Collectively, Ferrari have had a poor start to the season, despite having lofty expectations at the start of the year. Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes are all ahead of them heading into the Emilia-Romagna GP race weekend.
